Kelowna duo key in gold for Thunderbirds

Two weeks after falling just short of a medal with Team Canada at the Pan American Games, Abi Raye and Natalie Sourisseau experienced the taste of gold.

The two Kelowna products helped the UBC Thunderbirds to their 13th CIS field hockey championship on Sunday in Calgary with a 3-1 win over the host University of Calgary Dinos.

It was the T'Birds first national title since 2009.

Raye, 20, who missed the Canada West season with a broken rib, was named to the tournament's all-star team. Her only action with UBC this year was at the CIS finals in Calgary.

“We have a great team and they were really accepting of me just coming in for the finals,” said Raye. “We all played really well and they worked hard all season and really deserved the championship so I'm glad I could help a bit.”

In the semifinal on Saturday against Guelph, Sourisseau scored the insurance goal in a 2-0 win.

Raye, Sourisseau, and fellow Kelowna product Danielle Hennig were all members of Canada's national senior women's team at the Pan American Games last month in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Canadians lost the bronze medal game to Chile to finish in fourth place.

Raye, Sourisseau and Hennig are all former members of the KSS Owls.

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